{"id":1519,"date":"2011-11-03T18:40:01","date_gmt":"2011-11-03T17:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.miles-around.de\/?p=1519"},"modified":"2025-08-02T13:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T11:20:10","slug":"halong-bay-a-tourist-rip-off-but-a-beautiful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.miles-around.de\/en\/reiseziele\/asien\/vietnam\/halong-bucht-ein-touristennepp-aber-ein-schoener\/","title":{"rendered":"Halong Bay: A tourist rip-off \u2013 but a beautiful one"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a rich breakfast buffet including noodle soup and toast with jam, we decided to hotel<\/a> Waiting for our driver for the boat tour through Halong Bay. It's either the very low season or Ha Long City is always so dreary. We already walked around a bit yesterday and were very disappointed. When we couldn't even find a decent meal, we decided to search for restaurants online. We came across the following quote: \u201cIf Halong Bay is heaven, Halong City can be hell.\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This made us even more hopeful about the boat tour. Full of anticipation, we made our way to the dock. Our tour guide greeted us immediately and gave us a voucher for the tour. Then came the first surprise \u2013 suddenly, there was no mention of included drinks anymore. These could now be purchased on the ship for a few dollars (but still several times more expensive than usual). The second surprise came right on the boat. Our exclusively Japanese fellow travelers told us they had only booked a 4-hour trip \u2013 but we had booked a 6-hour one. When we asked our guide, the only reply was: "Don't worry about time."<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Our<\/a>
Our boat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Well, there wasn't anything else we could do now anyway. So off we went to a truly unique landscape. Halong Bay consists of hundreds of small islands that rise up to 150 meters out of the water. The smaller ones are uninhabited and covered only with bushes and small trees. Eagles nest on the larger ones, and with a bit of luck, you might even spot monkeys.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Halong<\/a>
Halong Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n
\"Halong<\/a>
Halong Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Fishing village in Halong Bay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After a good three-quarters of an hour, we arrived at a fishing village in the middle of the islands. The locals live here in floating, self-built houses. They're actually a self-sufficient group that lives exclusively from fishing, but tourism now also contributes to their livelihood. So we were able to rent a kayak and explore a few picturesque bays.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Fishing<\/a>
Fishing village in Halong Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Thien Cung stalactite cave<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We continued along the edge of the islands to a small bay with a stalactite cave. It was beautifully landscaped and brightly lit. The tour guides were happy to explain which animal or mythical creature the rock formation resembled. The whole place is very busy, even during the off-season, but it's still worth a visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\"Halong<\/a>
Halong Bay<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Bay<\/a>
Bay in front of the cave<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Sunbeams\"<\/a>
Sunbeams<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Thien<\/a>
Thien Cung Cave<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Finally, we took a 45-minute drive back to the port of Halong City.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"James<\/a>
James Bond has already been here<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Our review of Halong Bay<\/h2>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nach einem reichhaltigen Fr\u00fchst\u00fccksbuffet u.a mit Nudelsuppe und Toast mit Marmelade entschieden wir uns im Hotel auf unseren Fahrer f\u00fcr die Bootstour durch die Halong Bucht zu warten. Entweder ist gerade totale Nebensaison oder der Ort Ha Long City ist immer so trist. Wir sind ja gestern schon ein wenig umhergelaufen und waren schwer entt\u00e4uscht. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[211],"tags":[227,228,75,77,3203],"class_list":["post-1519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vietnam","tag-ha-long-bucht","tag-halong-bucht","tag-nationalpark","tag-natur","tag-suedostasien-2011","entry","has-media"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.miles-around.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/halong-bucht.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.miles-around.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.miles-around.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.miles-around.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.miles-around.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.miles-around.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.miles-around.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mil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